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SDCC: Marvel Animation Talks Spidey, Guardians, Avengers & More

Marvel Animation takes center stage at Comic-Con International in San Diego this year to take a look back at shows like Marvel’s Avengers: Secret War and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy as well as tease the studio’s future projects.

The panel includes the SVP of Marvel’s animation and family entertainment, Cort Lane, the SVP of production and creative director Eric Radomski, the VP of Marvel Animation, Stephen Wacker, and the supervising producer of Marvel’s Spider-Man, Kevin Shinick.

CBR is there live so keep hitting the refresh for the latest details.

The panel opened with a sizzle reel introducing the the panelists and adding Marsha Griffin, VP of character development and Fred Tatasciore, the voice of the Hulk to the mix.

The first subject on the docket was Guardians of the Galaxy season 2. “If you’ve been watching,” moderator Cort Lane said, “You know that the show has been dealing with a character called Adam Warlock.”

A clip of episode 221 was then shown to the room, featuring the Guardians on a visit to Drax’s home world where Drax finds himself in confrontation with Xeron, who doesn’t seem to agree with Drax’s claim to “The Destroy” title. Xeron then challenges Drax to a duel to see just who the “true” Destroyer actually is, despite Drax’s protests.

Marsha Griffin then took the mic to promote the upcoming third season, subtitled “Mission Breakout,” clearly themed after the ride in Disney California Adventure. She teased that there would be some deviation in the art direction of the show in the third season as well, where episodes would feature different animation styles across the season.

Guardians of the Galaxy season 3 will premiere early next year or later this year and will feature a cameo from Stan Lee. He will play an elevator operator in the Collector’s museum.

Kevin Shinck then announced that he will be providing the voice for Bruce Banner in Secret Wars, in addition to working on the newly announced Spider-Man animated show which premiers tomorrow here at Comic-Con International.

The panel then pivoted to Spider-Man leading with Shinick.

“It’s a year of Spider-Man, it’s a culture of Spider-Man,” Shinick said, “But one of the things I wanted to get back to the Spider-Man that I grew up with. I wanted to bring him back to being a student who loved science and showed exactly what it’s like to be a kid. We wanted to take an authentic look at what it’s like to be a 16-year-old.”

“It takes it back to the origins,” Griffin explained, “We wanted to bring that story back to the forefront and it’s the evolution of the friendship of Peter and Harry. We’ve got a huge line up of classic and brand new villains, and it’s got a pretty unique visual style.”

“Peter really looks and feels like a teenager,” Lane jumped in, praising the show’s new aesthetic.

Stephen Wacker sighted the fan response to Ultimate Spider-Man as a huge inspiration for the new Spider-Man show. “It’s very Peter Parker centric. If you came out of Spider-Man: Homecoming loving it, you’ll feel right at home in this new show.”

“Peter gets into a school called Horizon High which is a science school for geniuses…It’s almost like a Hogwards situation,” Schnick added.

Robbie Daymond then joined the panel as a surprise guest, announced as the voice of Spider-Man for the new show. He took a seat next to Fred Tatasciore, who will be voicing the head of Horizon High, Max Modell. Uncle Ben in the show will be voiced by Patton Oswalt.

Modell will be, according to the panel, will take the surrogate “mentor” role in the show for Peter as he tries to fit in to the world of Horizon High.

Eric Radomski praised the show for it’s tone and slowed down pace, giving the writers and actors breathing room for emotional performances rather than going big and epic.

The panel was then treated to a clip from episode 7, where Peter is put up against Sandman and his daughter. The fight progresses for a moment before a symbiote comes into the mix, giving Peter his black costume and a “second wind,” turning the tides of the fight.

The next focus was Avengers: Secret Wars.

A clip of the animated Battleworld and a map of the different “worlds” on it including a tiny continent called “New Quack City” featuring Howard the Duck.

“The idea was to really open up the canvas,” said Wacker, “we took some real chances this year on some big stories with some big villains, and we dig deep into the Marvel Universe.”

The panel then announced the next Avengers animated story will be Black Panther Quest, obviously, a Black Panther centric story focusing on who he is, his relationships, and Wakanda.

“Arguably, Black Panther is the greatest superhero of all,” Wacker said, “This show will show what the world what Black Panther is all about.”

It will take place after the events of Avengers: Secret War which will leave the Avengers team forever changed.

The panel then announced a new season of Marvel/Funko’s shorts, featuring the Guardians team.

A clip from Avengers was then shown, featuring a focus on Ms. Marvel and Vision as they deal with an intruder in the mansion…Who turns out to be none other than Taskmaster.

…But Taskmaster isn’t actually here to fight, he’s here to warn the remaining Avengers that there’s trouble brewing with M.O.D.O.K making a power play. The episode’s theme revolved around Ms. Marvel being taught the value of hard work rather than taking short cuts — something that Taskmaster is very much in favor of.

The panel then opened the floor for Q&A, the first of which came from a Wasp cosplayer who wanted to know if Spider-Man would ever join the Avengers — The panel was unable to comment directly but it sounded like a soft “no.”

A fan then asked if Marvel Animation has plans for shows and films that have a more adult bent to them — Wacker and Lane both commented in the affirmative but explained that they have “nothing they can announce right now.”

The next question came from a Kate Bishop cosplayer asking if the Young Avengers would ever show up in Marvel’s animated work, to which the panel teased they may have some plans in play.

Another question came from a Miles fan asking if he or Mr. Negative would show up in the new Spider-Man cartoon, which Wacker confirmed. “Miles will get his powers in this show, and Mr. Negative will be showing up…”

The panel closed with a tease that Captain Marvel fans will have some things to look forward to coming up in October.